Studio Talo Receives AIA 2016 Technology in Architecture Practice Innovation Award
Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.)- a 45 year old non-profit youth development and advocacy organization in Evanston, IL hired Studio Talo Architecture to design their new 12,000 sq.ft. office headquarters and youth program center. Early in the design development phase, the organization’s fund-raising committee asked us to produce renderings of the building and youth program spaces to aid in their community outreach and fund-raising campaign; We returned a more engaging idea. Having created positive owner experiences with 360 panorama renderings of other projects, Douglas Snider, Principal of Studio Talo's Visualization Studio, pitched the idea of incorporating avatar video of the youth the organization serves into dynamic 360 degree virtual reality video renderings. The young people would act as tour guides through the building, explaining how the organization and the new building would impact their lives. A panoramic video rendering, delivered through Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets would give users the experience of standing in the future building with the young tour guides as they plead their case for the new building. Y.O.U. loved the idea and the community, through the dynamic video rendering, experienced Y.O.U's mission, rather than just their plans. Apparently the American Institute of Architects loved the idea, too. Studio Talo was awarded the Technology in Architecture Practice, Exemplary Use in a Small Firm Citation.